Raman Lamba
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| Raman Lamba | ||||
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 India |
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| Personal information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batting style | Right-hand bat | |||
| Bowling style | Right-arm medium | |||
| Career statistics | ||||
| Tests | ODIs | |||
| Matches | 4 | 32 | ||
| Runs scored | 102 | 783 | ||
| Batting average | 20.39 | 27.00 | ||
| 100s/50s | -/1 | 1/6 | ||
| Top score | 53 | 102 | ||
| Balls bowled | - | 19 | ||
| Wickets | - | 1 | ||
| Bowling average | - | 20.00 | ||
| 5 wickets in innings | - | - | ||
| 10 wickets in match | - | n/a | ||
| Best bowling | - | 1/9 | ||
| Catches/stumpings | 5/- | 10/- | ||
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As of 4 February 2006 |
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Raman Lamba pronunciation (born January 2, 1960 in Uttar Pradesh; died February 23, 1998 in Dhaka) was an Indian cricket player. The former Indian Test player died in a Dhaka hospital, aged 38. Three days earlier he had been hit on the temple while fielding, without a helmet, at short leg in front of a substantial crowd during a match between Lamba's club Abahani and Mohammedan at the Bangabandhu Stadium. Batsman Mehrab Hossain hit the ball so hard that the ball rebounded to Khaled Mashud, the wicket keeper. Mohammad Aminul Islam, the former Bangladesh captain, recalled "I was the new man in and asked Raman if he was okay. He said, 'Bulli [Islam's nickname is Bulbul] main to mar gaya' [I am dead, Bulli] [2].
Lamba walked off the field and the injury did not appear too serious, but he suffered an internal haemorrhage and his condition soon worsened dramatically. A neurosurgeon was flown in from Delhi but it was already too late. The news caused widespread grief in both India and Bangladesh. Lamba was a popular cricketer in India, but in Bangladesh he was a legend.
He first went there to play club cricket in 1991, and was a key figure in the revival of interest in the game there. "I am the Don of Dhaka," he would joke to his Indian friends. Lamba had only moved in from the outfield that delivery and it was reported that he had already signalled for a helmet. Lamba was known to be fearless, though, as well as an exceptionally committed and enthusiastic player. The commitment sometimes went too far; he was banned for ten months after provoking Rashid Patel, who charged after him brandishing a stump in the 1990-91 Duleep Trophy final.
Critics also pointed to his technical shortcomings, but he always hoped for a recall to the Indian team after his four indifferent Tests in the late 1980s: "Runs I am going to make," he would say, "then we shall see." And he did make runs. His career average was over 50: in 1996-97, his 19th season, he scored 1,034 runs in just 14 innings for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy. He was one of only two Indians (with Vijay Hazare) to score two triple-centuries: 320 for North Zone in the 1987-88 Duleep Trophy final, and 312 for Delhi against Himachal Pradesh in 1994-95. He had been chosen to tour England in 1986, but failed to make the Test team.
He did, however, establish a lasting rapport with Ulster: he played club cricket there for 12 years, appeared four times for Ireland, and married an Irish girl by the name of Kim Lamba. They had two children, Jasmyn and Kamran. "I admired his guts," said his former team-mate Maninder Singh. "He never believed he could be defeated." Only two other cricketers are known to have died as a result of on-field injuries in a first-class fixture. Both were hit while batting: George Summers of Nottinghamshire on the head at Lord's in 1870; and Abdul Aziz, the Karachi wicket-keeper, over the heart in the 1958-59 Quaid-e-Azam final. The last first-class cricketer to die after being hit in any match was Ian Folley of Lancashire, playing for Whitehaven in 1993.
